The recent expansion of the Philippine military's tasks into areas not related to security and combat has had repercussions on their interface with local civilian actors. Through a survey of 93 soldiers from two communist front-line units in Western Visayas, the article examines the nature of tasks, civilian–military engagements and the soldiers' perception of local civilians. The soldiers perform predominantly non-combat tasks. They have more engagements with other local security forces and elected civilian authorities. These engagements are neither robust nor dense, with civilians providing material assistance to military-instigated activities. The soldiers have neutral views about elected authorities, civil society organizations and government agencies, and a moderately negative outlook towards the Commission on Human Rights, the media, the police and ex-rebels. The general skepticism over local government frameworks and capacity is tempered with the practical necessity of working with these local stru...